Location: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
When: around 1981
Witnesses: Marshall Dudley, Donna Dudley, Christina Dudley, Sean Dudley
Names: Real Told by Marshall Dudley

During a lightning storm a bolt struck the telephone pole in front of our house. We were all sitting in the living room watching the storm.

Immediately after the lightning bolt struck, we hear Sean's bedroom door slam. A few seconds later we heard his TV turn on to full volume.

When we went to his room we found the door was locked from the inside, so we were unable to get in without fetching the special key. When we opened the door we found that his TV had turned on, and was at full volume.

I checked the windows and found all of them closed and locked from the inside. I checked the TV, thinking maybe the surge from the lightning bolt shorted out the on/off switch. However I found the TV was not damaged, but that the mechanical on/off switch had been turned on, and then rotated fully clockwise to full volume (no electronic control here).

We considered several explainations. Could the wind have blown the door shut? Although there was lightning outside, it was not very windy. Plus no windows were open, so it could not have been from air flow. Was it a trick by a neightbor? There was no way to lock the windows from the inside, and get out of the room. Was it poltergeist activity. That is the only explaination I have heard that is supported by the facts. Christina was about 13 at the time, and it is a known fact that poltergeist activity is usually associated with those in puberty. I believe that the energy for the activity was somehow supplied by the lightning bolt, but just how is still a mystery to me.